Burak Uslu

Recent tsunami highlights need for awareness of tsunami duration

On Wednesday, 15 November 2006, Crescent City Harbor, in Del Norte County, Calif., was hit by surges resulting from the tsunami generated by the Mw= 8.3 Kuril Islands earthquake. The strong currents caused an estimated US

Source Models and Near-Field Impact of the 1 April 2007 Solomon Islands Tsunami

700,000 to

Lessons for California from the November 2006 Tsunami in Crescent City, California

1 million in losses to the small boat basin at Citizens Dock, destroying or damaging three floating docks and causing minor damage to several boats (Figure l).The event highlighted a persistent problem for tsunami hazard mitigation: Most people are still unaware that the first tsunami waves rarely are the largest and that the potential for damaging waves may last for many hours.

Tsunami Inundation from Great Earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone along the Northern California Coast

Within weeks of the Solomon Islands earthquake of 1 April 2007, international tsunami survey teams discovered important biomarkers of crust rupture and tsunami heights along the islands’ coastlines. Deep-ocean tsunameters recorded the tsunami waves of this event, enabling a real-time inversion of the tsunami source and model evaluation of near-field tsunami impact. The survey measurements provide valuable datasets for further confirmation of the tsunami source of the 1 April 2007 Solomon earthquake. These survey results also aided investigation of the correlation between sources determined by use of tsunameter records and those derived from seismometer records or crust-rupture measurements. In this study, to assess the near-field tsunami impact, we developed tsunami inundation models for the Solomon Islands, including tsunami waveforms, co-seismic land-level changes, and tsunami height distributions on individual islands. Compared with seismic-derived tsunami sources, modeling results based on the tsunameter-derived tsunami sources were a good match with field survey measurements. These results highlight the accuracy and efficiency of the tsunameter-derived tsunami source in modeling the near-field tsunami impact along a complex archipelago. We show that the source models, although derived by use of different methods, are all suited to initiation of inundation models developed for Solomon Islands. As these source models become available in real time or near real time, they can be implemented immediately in the inundation models to provide rapid guidance on tsunami hazard assessment, focused search and rescue operations, and post-event recovery and reconstruction.

Extreme runup from the 17 July 2006 Java tsunami

On November 15, 2006 the harbor at Crescent City in Del Norte County, California was hit by a series of tsunami surges generated by the M w 8.3 Kuril Islands earthquake. This earthquake produced the largest Kuril tsunami to reach Crescent City since 1933 when the tide gauge was installed. The largest amplitude surge, 1.76 m peak to trough, was the sixth cycle, arriving over two hours after the first wave arrived. The tsunami caused an estimated

The 1956 earthquake and tsunami in Amorgos, Greece

9.2 million in losses to the small boat basin, damaging the floating docks and several boats. The event highlighted the vulnerability of harbors from a relatively modest tsunami, problems with the tsunami warning system for a marginal event, and the particular vulnerability of the Crescent City harbor area. We look at how the tsunami warning system and human response can exacerbate or reduce the impacts of tsunamis.

The November 15, 2006 Kuril Islands-Generated Tsunami in Crescent City, California

We model tsunami runup and inundation along the Northern California Coast caused by hypothetical earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). The CSZ forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates and extends from Northern California to Southern British Columbia and is believed capable of producing great earthquakes with moment magnitudes (M w ) 9.0 or greater. A suite of CSZ rupture scenarios based on the geological characteristics of the southern part of the CSZ were simulated with the tsunami propagation and inundation model MOST. CSZ inundation projections were compared and related to historical accounts and modeled data for two teletsunamis at Crescent City: the tsunami of 1 April 1964 that caused 12 deaths and more than 17 million in damages to Northern California, and the 15 November 2006 Kuril Islands tsunami that caused nearly 10 million in damages to the Crescent City harbor. Our modeling suggests that near field tsunamis from the CSZ present a hazard greater than the 1964 event for the northernmost part of the State. However, south of Shelter Cove tsunamis generated by great earthquakes along the Alaska — Aleutians subduction zone are potentially more damaging.